La Trobe Business School

Every semester, students enrolled in LBS’ Master of Business Information Management and Systems (MBIMS) get the chance to work on live projects for the subject Business Intelligence Project Analysis and Design (BUS5BPD). This semester the students are undertaking a Digital Twin Inspection Tool project for the Australian Marine and Ship Services in collaboration with Deloitte.

What is digital twin technology?

A digital twin is a virtual model of a process, product or service. These ‘digital twins’ are applied to accelerate design, optimise performance and enable predictive maintenance. When delivered effectively, the results are improved product reliability, availability, safety and a reduction in the cost of delivery. Thus, a digital twin could be seen as a bridge between the physical and digital world.

Digital Twin Inspection Tool

Together with Deloitte, a fictional scenario is created; An Australian shipping company is having trouble aligning their digital twin to the physical asset, and they need an improved toolset to enhance their existing audit processes. Even though the Australian shipping company is a fictional company, the HMAS Castlemaine is used as a physical case study. The HMAS Castlemaine is one of the 60 Australian-built Bathurst Class corvettes to serve throughout World War II and is the last such vessel still afloat. The ship provides students with the opportunity to collect data and test their application. Ultimately, students are expected to capture/validate the physical state of the HMAS Castlemaine in a yet to be developed inspection application for Deloitte, compatible with Apple technology.

Students in front of the HMAS Castlemaine

Guest lectures by Deloitte and Apple

Throughout the semester, a series of guest lectures is provided by Deloitte and Apple. These guest lectures help students develop the digital twin inspection tool while using the philosophy of ‘Design Thinking’. Design Thinking is a design methodology that provides a solution-based approach to solving problems. Besides design thinking, these lectures also cover relevant topics such as the digital twins’ concept and designing the inspection application architecture of digital twins.

Industry-University collaboration

This project is a great example of how university and industry can collaborate to provide students with the opportunity to apply the skills they learn throughout their degree in the real world. Besides developing an actual prototype, this project enhances students’ academic, career, and personal development, increases their understanding of the work place and makes them career ready.

LBS and Deloitte arranged a site visit to the HMAS Castlemaine to give students the opportunity to visualise the challenge.